10 Musicians Who Turned Down Insane Amounts Of Money

Robert Plant

Taylor Swift

The Eagles

The Doors

AC/DC

Tom Waits

ZZ Top

Pete Seeger

Beach House

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Last week we were slack jawed over news that Robert Planet allegedly tore up an $800 million contract to reunite with Led Zeppelin. They say everyone has their price, and we can say without hesitation, that ours is well below $800 million dollars. Even though Plant later admitted that he greatly exaggerated the number, history is peppered with musicians who, for many reasons, have refused to sell out.

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From the Doors refusing to have their music used in car commercials to more recently, Taylor Swift pulling her music from Spotify despite the huge financial windfall, musicians, believe it or not, aren’t always motivated by money. From Macklemore and Ryan Lewis refusing to sign to a big label to ZZ Top refusing to shave their beards, all the musicians on our list have turned their backs on large lumps of cold hard cash. Head up to the gallery above to find out why Robert Plant let $800 million go, and why 9 other musicians willfully gave up fat paychecks.